For those of you wondering about what makes NVIDIA’s upcoming GK110 tick, NVIDIA has posed a complete architectural White Paper. There is some seriously interesting contained in there, enough to make us want GK110 to make it over into the GeForce lineup as soon as possible. However, as NVIDIA discusses quite a few times in this White Paper: GK110 is geared towards a compute / HPC environment and NOT gaming. That doesn’t mean it can’t be adapted for gaming like Fermi was though…. ;)

Since the GPU can schedule work for itself + on-board synchronization you could theoretically fold on a whole bunch of these attached to the most gimped CPU you can find and it would be fine. (Although have fun finding an Atom processor with a lot PCI-E x16 attached )

I wonder if the Hyper-Q model would alleviate some of the GUI lag associated with Folding on a desktop computer...

I can't see the GPUDirect being too useful for individuals. I guess it fits with their proposal for GeForce GRID however as they'd essentially be able to process most of the game including AI on GPUs, maybe even sucking input straight from the network card into the GPU without involving the CPU.

I hope this stuff is made compatible with OpenCL or DirectCompute so we don't end up with the same mess as PhysX

__________________"The computer programmer says they should drive the car around the block and see if the tire fixes itself." [src]

And availability? Eager gamers brace yourselves: it looks like it will be 6 to 9 months away, appearing in Q1 2013. Also, it may possibly be branded GeForce GTX 780. The price for this monster card should be interesting, too. ...

Seeing how there is not direct mention of any gaming application in the white paper (which I could have missed, since I did not review it in detail), LR either has a source at GTC 2012 or is simply pulling this info out of... a hidden part of their anatomy.

Personally, I think we will see strict segmentation between the gaming and HPC cards from here on out. NVIDIA has finally recognized that there isn't a need for ultra high end, lower margin cards in their GeForce lineup and is keeping their high end cores for the Quadro and Tesla classes. We MAY see a GK110 derivative make its way into the gaming space at some point in 2013 but only after NVIDIA has massaged it enough that they can make it profitable enough to sell at under $999.